AP spends 1.31 lakh cr on human resources development

Amaravati: The state government has spent more than Rs 1.31 lakh crore on human resources development in the last four-and-a-half years, said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. He released a White Paper on ‘Human Resources and Social Development’, the sixth in a series of proposed 10 papers, at Undavalli here on Friday.

The Chief Minister said that in 2015, the state government adopted Social Empowerment Mission and Knowledge Mission with a vision to transform the state into 'Social and Knowledge Capital' through systematic transformation of education, health, welfare in the state.

The White Paper details the achievements of various departments, including school education, higher education, medical and health education, women and child development, tourism and others.

According to the paper, budget allocation for school education has increased from Rs 12,595 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 21,612 crore in 2018-19. For higher education, allocations were raised from Rs 3087 crore in 2014-15 to Rs.3349 crore in 2018-19. The overall budget allocated to the education department has increased from Rs 15,681 crore in 2014-15 to Rs. 24,961 crore in 2018-19.

The Chief Minister said that Andhra Pradesh witnessed significant achievements in NAS (National Achievement Survey) rankings 2017. In Class X, AP is 1st in Mathematics and 2nd in overall performance. Furthermore, from ranks of 13th, 14th and 23rd in NAS 2014 & 2015, the state rose to the ranks 1st, 5th and 8th in Classes III, VI and VIII respectively.

Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for Primary, Upper Primary and Secondary has improved to 85.61 per cent, 83.96 per cent, and 79.15 per cent respectively as per the Unified District information on School Education (U-DlSE) data of the state for 2017-18.

SSC pass percentage increased from 91.16 in 2014 to 94.48 in 2018. Dropout rates in 2017-18 have come down to zero per cent, 0.43 per cent and 3.44 per cent at Primary, Upper Primary and Secondary compared to rate of 6.27 per cent, 5.47 per cent and 3.81 per cent in 2015-16.

Significant emphasis was laid on improving standards of physical literacy in schools by introducing two hours of a scheduled physical literacy programme in the academic calendar. Intensive training for physical education teachers and sporting awards such as Pratibha Kreeda Awards introduced.

Real time midday meal monitoring through NlC mobile application covering 35 lakh students in 45,228 schools has been helping in effectively implementing the scheme. The government built data infrastructure in the form of School Information Management System, which serves as the technology backbone supporting all the programmes undertaken by school education department.

Midday meal facility was launched from this academic year for poor students studying in govt. junior colleges. An amount of Rs  23 crore has been sanctioned for this scheme for 1.53 lakh students. This is the first of its kind scheme in the entire country at Plus 2 stage.

Biometric attendance system was introduced in all junior colleges including departmental offices. Own buildings were constructed for 402 government junior colleges out of 450. English Medium sections were provided at 185 government junior colleges.

Eleven reputed national institutions such as NIT, AIIMS, IISER, etc., were coming up in the state on 2,912 acre of land provided by the state government which released Rs 131.33 crore for land acquisition and construction of compound walls, the Chief Minister said. 

Eleven Letter of lntents (Expression of Interest) for the establishment of reputed greenfield private universities such as VIT, SRM. KREA were issued. The initiative is expected to bring investments worth Rs 11,360 crores with the student strength of over 1,72,982 in 10 years.

Skill upgradation through industry relevant courses and training to more than 8 Iakhs beneficiaries in the state providing employment to 1,78,649 students till now.